Barkschat



Jan. 31, 1956 E. BARKSCHAT 2,733,065

RESISTANCE THERAPEUTIC EXERCISERS Filed Sept. 23, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 31, 1956 E. BARKSCHAT 2,733,065

RESISTANCE THERAPEUTIC EXERCISERS Filed Sept. 23, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ANN- United States Patent 2,733,065 RESISTANCE THERAPEUTIC EXERCISERS Eric Barkschat, Chicago, Ill. Application September 23, 1953, Serial No. 381,857 6 Claims. 01. 272-57 The present invention relates to therapeutic exercising apparatus suitable for people suffering from neuromuscular disturbances and diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, lateral sclorosis, infantile paralysis, etc.

The primary object of the present invention is to produce a simple and novel resistance therapeutic exerciser that shall make available a variety of exercises involving a wide range of different conditions as to the amount, nature and direction of resistance tending to strengthen the affected muscles and develop new muscular abilities. An important object of the invention is to produce apparatus which the user can easily and quickly adjust without help from others, and without appreciable interruption of exercises which he may be performing.

My improved apparatus is based on the principle of a bar, preferably tubular in form, and weights which may be added to the bar or be subtracted, with no more effort than a light finger pressure, to vary the total weight of an exerciser device from practically no weight to a very considerable Weight and to different degrees of balance and unbalance.

In the case of a boot for application to a shoe or foot of a user, two bars are fastened to and crosswise thereof, one at the heel and the other at the toe. Using tubular cross bars, the boot, without added weight, may be quite light. Weights may be placed at what may be termed the four corners of the boot, or at three, two or only one corner; and weights at all of a plurality of weighted corners may be alike or they may differ widely from each other with respect to heaviness. Also, an individual bar may be used as a bar bell, which need be no heavier than the bar, or of any desired greater weight, and which may be balanced or out of balance.

The various features of novelty whereby the present invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims but, for a full understanding of the invention and its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a boot equipped in accordance with the present invention, the same being provided with a pair of weights at the toe and another pair at the heel;

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the toe portion of the boot, showing the local weight supporting bar and an unbalanced arrangement of three weights thereon; the supporting bar and two weights, which correspond to the toe weights in Fig. 1, being in section, while the third weight and an adapter therefor are partly in section and partly in elevation;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the adapters;

Fig. 4 is a view, on a greatly enlarged scale and partly in section and partly in elevation, of one of the locking pin assemblies; 4

Fig. 5 is a view, similar to Fig. 2, showing the tubular weight supporting bar elongated so as to project far enough beyond the side of the boot to allow the application of a weight directly to the same without using an intervening adapter; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing a solid instead of a tubular bar, together with a modified weight, and with the locking pin mounted in the bar instead of in the weight.

In the drawings the invention has been illustrated as applied to a boot to be worn by the user, and the detailed description will be confined to this embodiment; it being obvious that similar weight supporting bars, without being attached to a boot, may be used as bar bells.

The boot shown in the drawing is much like a lengthwise-adjustable roller skate comprising a foot supporting platform 1 composed of a toe section 2, a heel section 3 and a shank or tongue 4 fixed at one end to the tow section and detachably connected at its other end to the heel section. The shank contains a central, longitudinal slot 5 through which extends a bolt 6 passing down through the heel section; a wing nut 7 on the lower end of the bolt serving to clamp the shank against the under side of the heel section. The platform is provided with toe and ankle straps, 8 and 9, respectively.

Secured to the under sides of the toe and heel sections or" the platform are sturdy cross bars which may be solid or tubular. In Figs. 1 and 2 the cross bars are tubes 10, thereby keeping the weight of the boot proper low.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that bars 10 are not substantially longer than themaximum width of the toe section of the platform. Therefore weights 11, which are simply very thick, heavy discs having round, central openings 12, cannot be mounted directly on the bars, although these holes are of such a diameter as to make each weight a sliding fit on one of the bars. With this construction it is therefore necessary to employ adapters supported by the bars and, in turn, supporting weights. 7 An adapter 14 comprises a solid cylindrical stem 15, of such diameter as to provide a sliding fit when it is inserted in an end of a tubular bar, and a cylindrical cup element 16 at one end of the stem; the external diameter of the cup element being equal to that of the bar and the internal diameter being very slightly more than the diameter of the stem. Therefore the stern of an adapter may he slipped into a bar or into the cup device on another adapter; while a weighthmay he slipped ontothe cup device on any adapter.

Tubular bar 10 contains, along each of the lines where a diametral plane intersects its wall, a pair of holes; the holes in each pair being equally spaced from the two ends of the bar. The holes 17 of one pair are closer to the bar ends than are the other two holes 18.

The stem of each adapter contains a diametric bore 19 within which is mounted a spring actuated lock or catch for cooperation with any one of the holes in bar 10. In the arrangement shown, the lock or catch consists of a plug 26 screwed into one end of the bore, a compression spring 21 resting on the plug and a short pin 22 resting on the spring and protruding from the second end of the bore. The latter end of the bore is contracted, dueto the presence of a' small, annular, in ternal flange 24. Pin 22 has at the base a small external flange 25 that underlies flange 24 and therefore prevents the pin from leaving the stem; whereas the outer end 22a of the pin is rounded or tapered, to provide a camming function as will be explained hereinafter.

The cylindrical walls of the cup elements 16 of the adapters also contain holes 26 in the same plane as the axis of bore 19.

Each weight contains a diametric bore 27, interrupted by opening 12, one half of which contains a lock or catch similar to that in bore 1 of an adapter. The pin element 22, however, projects into opening 12 at the center of the weight while plug 20 is at the periphery of the weight.

An adapter may be inserted in an end of a tubular bar, and having its locking pin snap into either of the two holes 17 and 18 closest to such end. This permits the boot to be fitted to shoes or feet of different widths. A weight may then he slipped onto the protruding cup element 16 of the adapter, the locking pin in the weight snapping into one of the holes 26 in the adapter. To detach the weight, the user inserts a finger in the cup, presses down on the locking pin there exposed, and turns the weight. The rounded end of the locking pin provides a camming action to force the pin into its release position upon so moving the weight after the pin has been pushed back part way; whereupon the weight may be pulled off the adapter.

When a second weight is desired at the end of a bar, the stem of a second adapter is inserted in the cup element of the first one, as shown at the left in Fig. 2. The lock or catch device in the second adapter becomes engaged in hole 26 in the first adapter opposite that in which the lock device carried by the first weight is engaged. This insertion of the second adapter does not affect the security of the first weight because, as best shown in Fi g. 4, plug 20 contains a cavity 20 in its outer face; the end of the locking pin in the first weight finding clearance space in the cavity. The actual attachment of the second weight to the second adapter is effected in the same way as in the case of the first weight and the first adapter. The second weight is preferably attached to its supporting adapter before the latter is connected with its immediate support.

The fastenings between the separable parts are such that weights may be added or removed while the boot is being worn. So, when both an adapter and a weight are to be added, it is preferable that these first be secured together into a single unit which is then attached to the bar or to an adapter already in place on the bar. It is easy, as heretofore explained, to disconnect an adapter from the bar or a weight from its adapter. However, when there is a second adapter set into and locked to a first adapter, as at the left in Fig. 2, neither the first weight nor the second adapter can be released by a mere pressure of the finger and a turning movement. However, by extending bores 27 across the whole diameters of the weights, the locking pin 22 in the second adapter, and exposed in the bottom of the upper half of the bore in the first weight in Fig. 2, may be pressed down far enough by means of a small rod or pencil to permit release of the second adapter upon turning it. In other words, after the locking pin has been pressed down, the user grasps the second weight and, since it is lockedto the second adapter, the latter turns and the pin, by a camming action is moved out of hole 26 in the first adapter. Then, the remaining weight and adapter can be taken off, either separately or as a unit, as previously explained.

If desired, the first weight at each end of the bar may be mounted directly on the bar as in Fig. bar containing holes 26, corresponding to holes 26 in the adapters. The first weight at each end of the bar is attached in exactly the same way as to an adapter. An adapter may then he slipped into the bore in the bar just as in the case of bar 10 in Figs. 1 and 2. In other words, the ends of the bar and the cup elements on the adapters serve the same purpose of forming the direct support for the same weights.

In Fig. 6 the bar 10 is solid and contains the lock or catch composed of plug 20, spring 21 and pin 22. Weight 11- is the same as before, except that both sections of bore 27 are plain cylinders because the lock or catch is not housed in either of them. A weight, once applied, can be removed only by pressing a rod-like element, inserted in the proper end of bore 27, against the pin 22 to push it back far enough to allow the weight to be turned.

Bars, with adapters and any desired assortment of weights, of equal or varied sizes and massiveness, may be made for difierent uses. For use on shoes, they may conveniently be welded to the platform members of the boots. For a bar bell only a bar, weights and adapters are needed.

From the foregoing it will be evident that in the use of the invention in connection with a boot, one may wear only the light boot, or the boot and one or more weights at any one or more of the four corners; weights may be of various sizes; and additions and subtractions of weightincreasing elements may be done quickly and easily while wearing the boot without the use of any tool except that, in some instances, a little rod or pencil may be used as a pusher. This ease of quickly making adjustments is of great importance, since the user is not required to interrupt a definite exercising routine, to any objectionable extent, in etfecting such adjustments. In the case of a bar bell the importance of this feature is not so great but even there it enables the user to concentrate on exercises while giving little thought to the mechanics of making adjustments.

While the weights may be of any desired diameter, they are preferably large enough to extend well above the platform of the boot, as shown.

The present application is a continuation in part of my application Ser. No. 88,304, filed April 19, 1949, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. A resistance therapeutic exerciser including a sup port in the form of a tube containing in the wall thereof a plurality of holes near each end and spaced apart lengthwise of the tube, an adapter in each such end comprising a portion that is a sliding fit in the tube and a tubular portion that has the same external diameter as the tube, a spring-pressed pin in the adapter entered in a selected one of said holes in the tube, the tubular portion of each adapter also containing in the wall thereof a hole, a weight mounted on and slidable on and off each adapter, a spring-pressed pin in each weight in position to enter said hole in the corresponding adapter.

2. A resistance therapeutic exerciser comprising a boot for application to a shoe or foot of a user, tubular cross members fixed to the boot at the heel and the toe, each of said members having an internal diameter sufiiciently large to allow the users finger to be inserted in the same, each member containing a plurality of holes near each end and spaced lengthwise thereof, adapters mounted on said tubular members and each consisting of a stem portion that is within and a sliding fit in said members and a tubular portion that has the same external and internal diameters as said members, a spring-pressed pin in the stem portion of each adapter positioned to snap into any one of the holes in said members upon assembly with the pin registering with that hole, the tubular portion of each adapter containing a hole, a plurality of weights mounted on and slidable on and ofi the tubular portions of the adapters, and a spring-pressed pin similar to the aforesaid pins in each weight extending into the hole in the tubular portion of the adapter which the weight surrounds and exposed at the interior of said tubular portion.

3. A resistance exerciser as set forth in claim 2 wherein the adapters are so proportioned that, when the stem of one is inserted in the tubular portion of a second adapter, the pin in that stem portion may enter the hole in such second adapter.

4. A resistance therapeutic exerciser comprising a boot for application to the foot of a user, cross members fixed to the boot at the heel and the toe, each said member having a tubular end portion of internal diameter sufficiently large to allow a users finger to be inserted in the same, each of said members containing in each end portion a hole, weights on and slidable on and ofi said members, a spring-pressed pin in each weight in position to snap into one of the aforesaid holes when brought into registration therewith; the pins positively locking the weights against displacement and the tips thereof being so tapered and of such length that, when a pin is pressed outwardly by the users finger while in one of said holes, it may ride out of that hole upon shifting the corresponding weight on the member supporting it; an adapter mounted on at least one of said members; such adapter consisting of a stem portion that is a sliding fit in one of the tubular portions of the latter member and a tubular part that has the same internal and external diameters as the latter tubular portion, a spring-pressed pin in the stern portion of the adapter entered in one of the holes in that cross member, the tubular portion of the adapter containing a hole, a weight similar to the aforesaid weights surrounding the latter tubular portion with its pin entered in the latter hole.

5. A resistance therapeutic exerciser including a support member having tubular ends and containing a hole through the wall near each end, adapters each comprising a stern portion that is within and has a sliding fit in one of said tubular ends and a tubular end section that has the same internal and external diameters as the tubular ends of the support member, the tubular portion of each adapter containing a hole through the wall thereof, a spring-pressed pin in each adapter stem entered in one of the said holes in and exposed at the exterior of said support member, weights loosely surrounding the tubular sections of the adapters, a spring-pressed pin in each weight extending through the hole in and exposed on the interior of the tubular section of the corresponding adapter, the interior diameter of the tubular section of the adapter being sufficiently great to permit the user to insert a finger in the same to press back a pin carried by a surrounding weight.

6. An exerciser as set forth in claim 5, wherein the tubular section of each adapter contains a second hole and each weight contains a radial hole extending through its wall and registering with the second hole in the corresponding adapter; thereby permitting additional adapters to be attached to those on the support member and to be released by inserting a rod through such radial holes and pressing it against the pins registering with the radial holes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 46,413 Windshin Feb. 14, 1865 153,945 Gregg Aug. 11, 1874 325,439 Otis Sept. 1, 1885 808,706 Villedruin Jan. 2, 1906 6 916,813 Whitney Mar. 30, 1909 1,536,048 Alastalo May 5, 1925 1,645,457 Schall Oct. 11, 1927 2,114,790 Venables Apr. 19, 1938 2,470,815 Harvey May 24, 1949 2,512,906 Woolley June 27, 1950 2,609,638 Lindenmeyer Sept. 9, 1952 

